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Prime Minister John Key, who is also attending, is likely to get much less attention than those two stars, given locals' love of cricket and cinema.

Last year there were 46,000 Indian visitors to New Zealand, with 50,000 Kiwis going in the other direction.

A number of Indian productions have been shot in New Zealand, and Tourism NZ has also used Bollywood stars as ambassadors, including Malhotra, who last year toured the country and tweeted photos to his 2.42 million followers.

The number of Indian Kiwis dwarfs the number of Filipinos living in New Zealand (170,000 to 40,000), there are more tourists heading in both directions, and India is the second largest provider of international students to New Zealand (about 29,000 and rapidly growing).

Both Air India and Air New Zealand have Boeing 787 aircraft that could cope with the 16-hour flight time between India and NZ.

However, Air New Zealand chief strategy officer Stephen Jones told the Herald that the distance required a heavy fuel load and meant the potential profit wasn't large enough.

Another problem was India's size - meaning travellers would be coming from and going to a number of different major cities, not just New Delhi or Mumbai.

Under a recent agreement with Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand can offer tickets to Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi and Hyderabad, all via Singapore.

Prime Minister John Key inspects the welcome guard at the Rashtrapati Bhavan forecourt at the presidential Palace. Photo/ PM's office